Fang Xiang

This is both a work of science fiction and an exploration of the meaning of life, love, literature and art. Brainpower is no longer the main ingredient for being human in this far distant future world.  Spirituality, physical balance, and diligence all come together as integrity for Chen Mu, the Card Apprentice.  The cards which Chen Mu masters in his own scrappy way, distill all the powers of the cosmos –  human and nonhuman –  into something that is not a book, not technology, and neither art nor magic, but is these and more.  Learn about these strange cards, which can embody everything you might imagine for the future of technology, but also a future beyond technology which promotes the best, and sometimes the worst, from mankind’s past.

The Card Apprentice

When Butchie discovered him, Chen Mu also discovered her. His situation that day had gotten very strange, with his perception untold times more acute than normal.

Slightly squinting, he raised his head in the shadows. He recognized Butchie from the recent battle where he had discovered how breathtaking that female card artisan was. Her understanding of energy and her control of perception were something he could never overtake.

If he hadn't known his own perception had greatly increased during that time, he would have been afraid that even his perception was far from hers. Making the comparison with a cool head, Chen Mu stolidly found he wasn't her equal at that time. What was more, and what felt strange, was that he didn't feel any fear. He was a different person from when he'd just encountered Lu Xiaoru, with nothing to be seen of the novice's peculiar panic.

Looking Up in the Dark